Conservative MPs who received all expenses paid trips to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) have been banned from traveling amidst growing concerns over the regime’s lobbying activities in the UK.
Investigations by The Daily Telegraph found that many of the MPs that actively uphold Sri Lanka’s rhetoric on reconciliation and human rights progress, had already been on all-expenses paid trips to Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan High Commission boasted that it had 14 MPs that would publicly defend the Rajapaksa regime, of which some had all-expenses paid trips to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Chris Nonis, outlined that the number of MPs that supported Sri Lanka had risen from 2 to 14 after their visits.
The permission to travel to Sri Lanka on sponsored trips was withdrawn this week on the advice of the British Foreign Office.